Kern County Coroner Declares David Silva's Death To Be 'Accidental,' Heart Disease-Related

from the nine-men,-three-batons,-one-attack-dog-all-unrelated dept

Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood held a press conference last Thursday to declare his department's innocence in the death of David Silva. This claim is based on the coroner's report prepared by the Kern County Coroner's office, which reports to the Sheriff's Office. David Silva's death has been declared "accidental," with the official cause of death listed as "cardiac hypertension."

This disease can be a rather sudden killer (onset-to-death can be as little as two years), but the "contributing factors" listed on the coroner's report make no mention of the heavy physical strain put on Silva's body by the restraint efforts of nine law enforcement officers and a police dog. Here's what the report says contributed to Silva's death: "Acute intoxication, chronic alcoholism, severe abdominal obesity, chronic hypertension, acute pulmonary-cardiovascular strain." "Acute pulmonary cardiovascular strain" sounds like a naturally-occurring health event, but it's nothing more than severe strain on the heart and lungs -- something that might occur when an already out of shape person is restrained (within policy) by several men and a police dog while being intermittently beaten (within policy).

The "acute intoxication" is also questionable as Silva's BAC was .095, not much higher than the legal limit in many states (.08). Of course, the coroner's office could be folding Silva's drug intake into the "intoxication" level as he had amphetamines, methamphetamine and Klonopin in his system as well.

The autopsy almost makes it sound as if David Silva might have passed away that night, with or without receiving special attention from Kern County deputies. I suppose there's a slim chance he might have expired of natural causes while passed out on someone's doorstep, but it's much more likely that he was pushed towards an early grave by the amount of force used against him.

Sheriff Youngblood seems to feel the autopsy clears his department of any wrongdoing. This likely explains the release of the report mere days after he informed the media it could take up to a month before the toxicology work was completed.

This also explains why he went on the attack during his press conference. He blamed the media for skewing the story, playing on peoples' emotions and placing his deputies in danger. He also stated his office would no longer be releasing names of officers involved in incidents like these.

According to Youngblood, everything about Silva's "arrest" was handled in accordance with department policy. According to the Sheriff, only three deputies used batons (and then hit Silva only in approved areas -- i.e., not the head). The coroner's report mentions "signs of blunt force trauma" to the left side of Silva's head, which could possibly be explained by the kicking witnessed by onlookers. Whatever hit Silva's head (or whatever Silva's head hit), it was non-lethal -- no skull fractures or brain injury.

Because Silva failed to die from anything directly related to the beating/"hobbling" (Silva was restrained with a "hobble," or "hogtied" for all intents and purposes), Youngblood feels the responding officers did no wrong. Everything that occurred that night was compliant with policy. The closest the coroner's report comes to implicating law enforcement in Silva's death is this sentence:

Death is from the sequelae of severe chronic cardiovascular disease exacerbated by the effects of acute intoxication together with the sequelae of properly employed restraint procedures.

(How do we know the restraint procedures were properly employed? Because deputies told the coroner and investigating officers that they were. Nothing listed in the report points to improperly employed restraint or excessive force. But the question remains: if nine officers "properly employ" restraint procedures, does the combined force become "excessive?" Or is it fine as long as it's a "properly employed" nine-on-one "restraint?")

If all of this is above board, it doesn't explain the deputies' pressing need to "secure" citizens' cell phone recordings, which was performed without a warrant in one case, and in the other, took the form of a nine-hour "house arrest" to ensure the footage didn't make its way to the news before the warrant arrived.

Youngblood attacked this narrative as well, stating it was actually "only" five hours of detainment. If this is truly the case, Youngblood should release the warrant and compare it with cell phone records. Allegedly, his deputies contacted the witnesses with the cell phones they were interested in obtaining sometime between 2 and 3 am, but the warrant didn't show up until nearly noon.

He also made this disingenuous statement:

Anyone there was free to leave at any time. No one was held hostage. [One of the witnesses] just couldn’t take the phone that had the evidence. Once he gave the phone and were in the process of getting a search warrant, he left. The second [phone], we obtained a search warrant, we waited two hours and 11 minutes to get that search warrant and to seize that phone.

"Free to leave" is "free to leave." It doesn't come with strings attached.

Youngblood stated he would release all video his department has in its possession. (However, it appears the California Highway Patrol isn't interested in parting with its dash-cam footage of the incident.) As far as Sheriff Youngblood is concerned, this report, combined with the footage publicly available, clears the officers of wrongdoing. The deputies involved will be returning to work (apparently, they were still on paid administrative leave despite reports otherwise).

But it's not over yet. The District Attorney's office has announced it will be performing its own investigation and the FBI has yet to deliver its report. In addition, the attorney for David Silva's family has announced that the law firm's "experts" will be performing their own investigation as well.

The Kern County Sheriff's Office is no stranger to this sort of controversy.

The Silva episode follows several high-profile brutality cases involving the Kern County Sheriff's Office in recent years.

One led to criminal convictions of three deputies and a $6-million civil judgment in the 2005 death of a jail inmate, according to attorneys. Another resulted in a $4.5-million court award for the family of a man who died in 2010 after being struck 33 times with batons and Tasered 29 times, attorneys said.

Even if the KCSO is ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing, this incident should at least prompt law enforcement officials to take a closer look at what their restraint policies allow -- and what sort of harm can actually be done to citizens while still ostensibly "following the rules." A couple of officers restraining someone using proper techniques is probably fine. But nine officers (and an attack dog) properly deploying "non-lethal" weapons and restraint can very easily turn an arrestee into a victim.

Filed Under: bakersfield, david silva, kern county, police brutality

Released Video From Silva Beating Shows His Last Moments; Video Of Actual Beating Still Missing

from the LEO-Video-Editing-Services,-open-for-business-24/7 dept

A pair of the cell phone recordings of the David Silva beating have been released by attorney Daniel Rodriguez. 23ABC News received the videos first, both of which capture the final moments of Silva's life. Unfortunately for those seeking more clarity as to the actions of the nine responding officers, these videos fail to provide much insight into the officers' actions during the previous 30-40 minutes.

Both videos were shot after the batons had stopped (allegedly) swinging. [The videos won't embed so you'll have to click through to view them.] In the first, Silva is surrounded by several members of law enforcement who are obviously still restraining him. You can hear faint orders to "get down" being yelled by the officers, but the most noticeable sounds come from Silva himself, who spends most of the runtime screaming.

The second video shows the efforts of law enforcement and the responding EMS unit to revive Silva. One of the offscreen voices makes a couple of interesting statements. First, he points out that officers "stood around for five minutes" by Silva's unmoving body before attempting resuscitation. The second, echoed by a female voice, lends some credence to the story put forth by several witnesses: "Now, it's a murder scene."

Also of note, at 5:19 a second cell phone, presumably recording, shows up in frame. This would appear to be the other cell phone that was seized by the Sheriff's Department, the one on which the footage is no longer available.

The witnesses claim that both phones had footage of officers striking and kicking Silva, but with both phones now returned to their owners, none of the footage has survived. Both phones made their way from the deputies who seized the phones to the Kern County Sheriff's Office, which then shared the phones with the Bakersfield PD and the FBI. The FBI has apparently analyzed both phones but has yet to release its findings.

Here's where we stand right now, according to Rodriguez:

Rodriguez told ABC23 that "the more incriminating video was one on the other cellphone." He said that video was shot "while the batons were swinging." Rodriguez added the second phone was returned to his client with no video. If a video was erased from that phone, he said, it could not be recovered because of the type of the device.

David Cohn, the attorney for David Silva's family, has his own concerns:

[Cohn] said his clients are concerned that the videos might be erased or destroyed, either accidentally or on purpose. He has not seen them.

"If I'd heard that they'd given them to the FBI, ok," he told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "But the Bakersfield Police Department, whom they work with on a daily basis? It certainly doesn't have the look of impartiality."

Cohn also (obviously) has his concerns about the phone seizures themselves.

Cohn said the Sheriff's Department went "well beyond a reasonable search" in obtaining the videos, making no effort to ask for copies or voluntary cooperation from the witnesses.

"They held these people hostage for several hours pending the serving of a search warrant. I've never heard of that before," he said.

Beyond the deputies' abuse of these witnesses' rights, there's another aspect that may have made these seizures illegal, as posited by ExCop-LawStudent.

The Privacy Protection Act, 42 U.S.C. 2000aa(a) (hereafter PPA), states:

Notwithstanding any other law, it shall be unlawful for a government officer or employee, in connection with the investigation or prosecution of a criminal offense, to search for or seize any work product materials possessed by a person reasonably believed to have a purpose to disseminate to the public a newspaper, book, broadcast, or other similar form of public communication….

This law provides that if a person takes a video of police action and intends to disseminate it to the public, the police can only obtain the video by subpoena, not by a search warrant. In this case neither of the individuals who had their property seized were suspects in the crime being investigated, the death of David Silva at the hands of Kern County Sheriff’s deputies, nor were they being arrested.

The sheriff’s office was aware of the video because the individual that taped the beating called 911.

Further, that individual informed the 911 personnel that she intended to disseminate the video to the public (at 0:46 of the call), saying “I’m sending it to the news.” At this point, the Sheriff’s office was on notice that this was “work product” protected by the Privacy Protection Act, and should have been obtained by subpoena, not by a search warrant. Indeed, the law specifically provides that a warrant can only be used after a subpoena has failed to obtain the material.

In support of this argument, the author cites the infamous case brought against the US by Steve Jackson Games, which had several work products seized by US Secret Service agents via a warrant, despite not being a suspect in the investigation at hand. The end result was $50,000 in damages plus attorney's fees being awarded to the game maker for these illegal seizures.

The video supposedly containing the most damning footage is missing. What we do have available only shows the aftermath of the beating. We're still waiting for much more information to be released. There's been no word back from the FBI on its analysis of the phones. The coroner has yet to release an official cause of death and the sheriff's office has stated this process could take up to four months. Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood continues to make concerned noises, but the lack of conclusive video has also prompted a bit more hedging, along with some unfortunate statements.

"I have seen the video," Youngblood said last week. "I cannot speculate whether they acted appropriately or not just by looking at the video."

The sheriff, however, acknowledged that there is a great deal of public concern about the incident and subsequent investigation. "It is not just troubling to the public, it is not just troubling to news media, it is troubling to me," he said. In an interview with The Times, he said the credibility of the department is at stake.

"Baton strikes were used, but what I don't know is how many and where they were on the body and if they caused significant injury that caused death," he said.

Youngblood said the baton is a less lethal weapon, and because of that its use doesn’t usually lead to deputies being placed on leave. But he said the head is not an appropriate place for a baton strike.

"Sometimes in the heat of battle, the baton doesn't go where you want it to go.... If someone has 20 baton strikes to the head, OK, that is easy for us. But when there is a fight or scuffle and a baton strike goes where it should not ... then you have to evaluate,” he said.

The passive voice in this context is bordering on reprehensible. There's a person controlling the baton and that person presumably should have the training to ensure proper "placement" of the weapon. The two deputies seen on the surveillance tape seem to be controlling their batons very well, using both hands to swing and connect with Silva. Nine officers swinging batons at one man are going to run out of "appropriate" real estate on a human body very quickly.

Youngblood seems to be drawing a line between proper baton use and a savage beating, but he's drawing the line in his office's favor. If all officers aimed exclusively and repeatedly for Silva's head, it's an open-and-shut case. But, if Silva struggled, or if blows rained down on other parts of his body as well, it's probably just good (if a bit too aggressive) police work (pending "evaluation").

Youngblood's statement serves two purposes: to define how far officers under his control actually have to go in terms of violence in order to warrant further review or disciplinary action, and to justify the fact that his deputies are still on active duty, despite earlier reporting that they had been placed on paid administrative leave until the investigation was complete.

It is common to place law enforcement officers on paid leave during investigations of arrest-related deaths, but the Californian reported the deputies involved remain on duty.

Youngblood's deputies who allegedly beat a man to death are still on patrol. One hopes that they won't find themselves in any situations in which a baton strike might be used, or go where the deputies "don't want it to go."

Filed Under: bakersfield, beating, david silva, destruction of evidence, evidence, police brutality, video

Footage Of Lethal Beating Deleted From Seized Phone; Sheriff Asks FBI To Take Over Investigation

from the a-step-in-the-right-direction dept

Well, this is rather unexpected. After sheriff's deputies seized cell phones containing footage of David Silva's death at the hands of nine law enforcement officers, the assumption was that Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood's promise of a full investigation would result in little more than some officious noises being made and declarations that the recordings were "inconclusive" or "unrecoverable."

That this is the most common assumption shows how far the trustworthiness of law enforcement has fallen. This precipitous drop in trust is almost inversely proportionate to the increase in recordings captured by members of the public. Law enforcement has long been in control of the cameras and this power shift has resulted in some very ugly behavior. The expected mode is cover up and obfuscate, abusing the power that comes with the position.

The unsurprising part of the David Silva beating is this: when one of the phones confiscated by law enforcement (one without a warrant, the other after an illegal nine-hour detention) was inspected at the Sheriff's office, Sheriff Youngblood discovered the footage had been deleted.

The surprising part is that Youngblood decided to call in the FBI to head up a parallel investigation into the death of David Silva. Even better, he had the phones flown out to the FBI's Sacramento office for analysis. This is a rather unprecedented move. The general response from local law enforcement to situations like these is to close ranks and make vague promises and statements about "justice" and "truth." Instead, Youngblood opted to turn the investigation over to a more neutral party (and one with better tech tools).

The fact that this story has attracted national interest probably pushed Youngblood to consider other options. There's little chance the Sheriff's department would be able to control the narrative (or contain the fallout) at this point and with potentially damning footage being deleted by a law enforcement officer, there's no chance for redemption without making the investigation more neutral.

This isn't to say the FBI isn't capable of covering up misbehavior, but in this instance, it really doesn't have much of a stake in the outcome. If the footage shows what eyewitnesses have described, there shouldn't be too much of a question as to where the guilt lies.

The deputies named by the department have been put on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, and Sheriff Youngblood has stated that these officers have been receiving death threats and negative email. This, too, is an expected outcome. The court of public opinion creates a lot of judge/jury hybrids. Naming the officers involved is a small but significant step towards a transparent investigation. Hopefully, the FBI's involvement will continue in this fashion, rather than take a turn towards the opaque.

Filed Under: david silva, deleted, fbi, kern county, lethal beating, mobile phones, video evidence